Magazine construction for packing case erecting machine

ABSTRACT

A secondary case magazine is provided above and to one side of an upwardly open primary case magazine from which the lowermost case is cyclically withdrawn for erection. The secondary magazine is disposed generally horizontally, and holds a large number of cases in generally vertical edgewise relation. Escapement means at the exit end of the secondary magazine successively ejects each case for downward movement onto the stack of cases in the primary magazine. Means in the secondary magazine urges all of the cases therein toward said exit end, and said means operates in timed relationship with said escapement means and said means for withdrawing the lowermost case from the primary magazine.

United States Patent [72] inventor Daniel McIntyre Portland, Conn. [21] App1.No. 863,147 [22] Filed Oct. M [23] a fiivision of Ser. No. 722,943,

Apr. 22, l968 1at. No. 3,580,143 451 Patented E6}. 2,1971 [73] Assignee Emhart Corporation Bloomfield, Conn.

[54] MAGAZINE CONSTRUCTION FOR PACKING CASE ERECTING MACHINE 4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl 271/43A [51] Int. Cl.... B65h 3/24 [50] Field of Search 271/43, 44,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,058,258 4/1913 Phelps 271/44 Primary Examiner.loseph Wegbreit Assistant ExaminerBruce 1-1. Stoner, Jr. Attorney-McCormick, Paulding & l-luber ABSTRACT: A secondary case magazine is provided above and to one side of an upwardly open primary case magazine from which the lowermost case is cyclically withdrawn for erection. The secondary magazine is disposed generally horizontally, and holds a large number of cases in generally vertical edgewise relation. Escapement means at the exit end of the secondary magazine successively ejects each case for downward movement onto the stack of cases in the primary magazine. Means in the secondary magazine urges all of the cases therein toward said exit end, and said means operates in timed relationship with said escapement means and said means for withdrawing the lowermost case from the primary magazine.

DANIEL MC INTYRE ATTORNEYS PATENTEDunv 2 ISTI SHEET 2 UP 3 PATENTEDuuv 2 :an

SHEET 3 OF 3 MAGAZINE CONSTRUCTION FOR PACKING CASE EREC'IING MACHINE This is a divisional application of my copending application filed Apr. 22, 1968 under Ser. No. 722,943, and relates to machines for erecting packing cases.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION More particularly, this invention deals with a magazine construction so arranged as to store large numbers of cases in their flatfolded condition.

A general object of the present invention is to provide a magazine construction for storing a large number either flatfolded cases or similarly arranged blanks, wherein these cases or blanks can be sequentially withdrawn from the downstream end either for erection or gluing up.

Another general object of the present invention is to provide a magazine construction of theforegoing character for use with a primary magazine wherein a relatively small number of cases are stored, whereby a conventional mechanism for withdrawing the lowennost case from the primary magazine is not adversely affected by weight of the total number of cases in both magazines.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a magazine construction which permits the lowermost case in a vertical stack of flatfolded cases in the primary magazine to be cyclically withdrawn by a conventional mechanism, an auxiliary or secondary case magazine being arranged to automatically replenish the cases so withdrawn from the primary magazine to maintain a predetermined number of flatfolded cases in said primary magazine.

A still further specific object of the present invention is to provide an auxiliary or secondary case magazine for replenishing cases withdrawn from a primary upwardly open magazine, which secondary case magazine is capable of storing a large number of cases in stacked edgewise relationship, said edgewise casesin said secondary magazine being so located that their weight does not bear against the conventional mechanism for withdrawing the lowermost case from said primary magazine.

The drawings show a preferred embodiment of the invention and such embodiment will be described, but it will be understood that various changes may be made from the construction disclosed, and that the drawings and description are not to be construed as defining or limiting the scope of the invention, the claims forming apart of this specification being relied upon for that purpose.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. I is a side elevational view of a magazine construction incorporating the present invention, with a conventional mechanism for withdrawing the lowermost case from a primary upwardly open magazine being shown in schematic fashion.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the exit end of the secondary or auxiliary magazine shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an end view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 showing the exit end of said secondary magazine, with portions of the operating mechanism being indicated schematically thereon.

FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7 indicate schematically the sequence of operation of the escapement means provided at the exit end of the secondary case magazine shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Turning now to the drawings In greater detail, FIG. I shows in pertinent part a portion of a machine for erecting packing cases from the flat to an open or erected position for loading. The reader is referred to my prior copending application entitled Machine For Erecting Cases and Positioning Them For Loading, filed Feb. 13, 1967, under Ser. No. 6l5,778 for a more complete description of one possible machine of the type withwhich the magazine construction of the present invention might be adapted for use. As described therein, an upin FIG. 1, may be provided for storing a stack of flatfolded cases one above the other. In accordance with the disclosure in the aforementioned patent application, means is provided for cyclically withdrawing the lowermost case from the magazine 10 and erecting the case so withdrawn as indicated by the rectangularly shaped case C shown in broken lines in FIG. 1. Vacuum means 12 is provided at the upper end of a piston rod 14, comprising the movable portion of a vertically disposed actuator 16, for movement in the direction indicated by the arrow 18. Control means is provided, as indicated generally at 20, for controlling the vertical reciprocations of the vacuum means 12, and for controlling the vacuum at the case-engageable vacuum cups for achieving continuous operation of said case-withdrawing means. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the mechanism just described comprises only one of several mechanisms which might be used for withdrawing the lowermost case from a case magazine of the type indicted generally at 10 in FIG. I. For example, means might be provided for stripping the lowermost case horizontally from said magazine 10 without departing from the scope of the present invention.

In accordance with the present invention, a secondary case magazine is provided above and to one side of the upwardly open magazine 10 for storing a large number of flatfold cases in generally vertical orientation with their lowermost edges resting upon a table portion 22 of the magazine frame. The table portion 22 is preferably inclined slightly with respect to the horizontal as shown and is supported on four legs 24, 24 so as to locate the exit end of the secondary case magazine slightly above and to one side of the upwardly open magazine 10. A plurality of generally horizontal steps 26, 26 may be provided between pairs of said legs 24, 24 in order to facilitate loading of cases in the secondary case magazine.

Means is provided in the secondary magazine for urging all of the cases therein toward the exit end, and as shown said means includes an endless conveyor belt 28 having an upper run for engaging the lower side edges of said folded cases so as to move said cases toward the right and toward the exit end of the secondary magazine. The conveyor belt 28 is entrained over drums 30, 32 and 34, the latter of which is driven through an intermittently operated clutch 36, as best shown in FIG. 3. The clutch 36 is cyclically operated by means of an actuator 38, which actuator receives a pulse each time that the mechanism for removing a case from the primary case magazine is retracted. Since the latter operates automatically through the control mechanism, indicated generally at 20 in FIG. 1, it will be apparent that the actuator 38 also operates automatically and in timed relationship with the means for withdrawing cases from the magazine 10. A second actuator 40 is similarly pulsed in timed relationship with operation of the means for withdrawing the lowermost case in the primary magazine 10 and its function will be described in greater detail hereinbelow.

Referring now more particularly to the construction of the auxiliary or secondary case magazine, the lower generally horizontal wall thereof is defined by the table portion 22 and the belt 28 against which the lower side edges of the flatfolded cases C, C rest while contained in this magazine. A pair of fixed uprights or supports 42, 42 are provided at the downstream end of the magazine with their lower ends being attached to the table portion 22. The supports 42, 42 cooperate to define an exit end therebetween of said secondary case magazine. The upper ends of the supports 42, 42 carry a crossmember 43 best shown in FIG. 3 which crossmember in turn carries a box beam 44 extending rearwardly with respect to the supports 42, 42 in generally parallel relationship to the table portion 22. The box beam 44 generally defines the upper wall of the secondary case magazine and slidably supports a depending pusher 46, which pusher 46 is continuously biased from the position shown in FIG. I toward the exit end of the secondary case magazine with a force which is relatively constant with reference to the particular position of said pusher wardly open case magazine, of the type shown generally at 10 along its path of movement. More particularly, the depending pusher 46 is carried on a slide 48, which slide is mounted for movement toward and away from the open or exit end of the case magazine. The slide 48 is connected through a cable 50, to a spring-loaded drum 52, which drum is rotatably supported in the crossmember 43 and comprises a commercially available device of the type which is adapted to exert a constant force not related to the angular position of the drum 52 with respect to its cable 50. It will thus be apparent that the means for urging all of the edgewise cases toward the exit end of the secondary magazine includes not only the endless belt conveyor 28 but also the biasing means just described for urging the pusher 46 toward the right as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2. Finally, and still with reference to the beam 44 and its crossmember 43 defining the upper wall of the secondary case magazine, it will be appreciated that these components are adjustably mounted vertically between the upright supports 42, 42 by means of ways 54, 54 provided for this purpose so that the magazine can accommodate cases of various heights.

As shown in FIG. 3 the exit end of the horizontal dimension of the secondary case magazine is more particularly defined by a plurality of adjustable guides 56, 56 which guides are mounted at spaced vertical locations on the supports 42, 42 so that the width of the secondary magazine can be conveniently varied. As shown in FIG. 2 the exit end of the secondary case magazine also includes an adjustable shoe 58 for assuring that the cases C, C being advanced along the secondary case magazine move in accurately aligned relationship with respect to one another.

In further accordance with the present invention, escapement means is provided at the exit end of the secondary case magazines for sequentially releasing at least the endmost case from said magazine to replace the case being withdrawn from the upwardly open magazine by the conventional mechanism described hereinabove. As best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, said escapement means comprises a generally vertically reciprocable pallet having a lower shear plate 60 for engaging the lower side edge of the case furthest downstream in said magazine as the pallet is moved vertically upwardly in response to a pressure pulse delivered to the actuator 40. The pallet comprises a portion of the escapement means in the exit end of the secondary magazine, which pallet further includes an upper shear plate 62 engageable with the upper side edge of the aforementioned furthest downstream case. The upper shear plate 62 engages the upper side edge of this case during downward vertical movement of the pallet. The shear plates 60 and 62 are connected to one another through a pair of vertically reciprocable push rods 64, 64 and laterally extending angle brackets 66 and 68 respectively, connected at either end to the parallel push rods 64, 64. The construction of the pallet is schematically illustrated in FIGS. 4-7 inclusively with its generally vertical reciprocatory movement also illustrated with reference to the cases in the magazine including that case furthest downstream, showing the manner in which said case is ejected. The upper surface of the table portion 22 of the secondary case magazine is inclined slightly as shown and it will be appreciated that all of the cases in the magazine are urged toward the right as indicated by the arrows 70, 70 in response to operation of the above-described belt conveyor 28 and spring-biased pusher element 46. The pallet, comprising part of the escapement means of the present invention, includes the above-mentioned push rods 64, 64 one of which is shown in these views, with the lower and upper shear plates 60 and 62 being fixedly connected to the push rod 64 as schematically shown. In response to reciprocation of the actuator 40 suitable mechanism is provided for moving the push rod 64 from the position shown in FIG. 4, through that shown in FIG. 5, to a raised position illustrated in FIG. 6. As will be apparent from these views, the lower shear plate 60 raises the furthest downstream case C and the upper shear plate 62 subsequently engages the upper side edge of the case to move the case downwardly from the position shown in FIG. 6 so as to eject the case as shown in FIG. 7, the line pressure of the succeeding cases in the magazine serving to force the case outwardly onto a horizontal shelf 72 carried adjacent the downstream end edge of the fixed portion of the secondary magazine structure.

The exit end of the secondary case magazine is provided with upper and lower fixed stops for normally retaining the cases in horizontally compacted edgewise relationship against the force of the pusher 46 and/or the bias created by intermittent motion of the belt conveyor 28. The lower fixed stop 74 is mounted at each of its ends to the fixed frame of the magazine, and defines a laterally extending slot through which the lower shear plate 60 is adapted to move as described hereinabove. The upper fixed stop 76 is similarly situated with respect to the crossmember 43 to define a laterally extending slot through which the upper shear plate 62 is adapted to move as shown in FIG. 4 through 7. As so constructed and arranged, it will be apparent that the pallet includes case-engaging portions movable into and out of the path of movement of the edgewise cases in the secondary magazine for sequentially moving the case to be released in its own plane so as to clear the fixed stops 74 and 76 at the exit end of said case magazine in order to permit the line pressure of the succeeding cases in the magazine to force the furthest downstream case outwardly, whereby the said case is adapted to drop downwardly into the upwardly open magazine 10. More specifically, the lower shear plate 60 permits the case to clear the lower fixed stop 74 so that a spring-loaded guide member 80 can move inwardly beneath the lower side edge of the case C as shown in FIG. 6. The upper shear plate 62 subsequently causes downward movement of the case to clear the upper fixed stop 76. As the case so moves, its lower edge rides outwardly on the surface of the guide member 80, ultimately to reach the unstable position shown in FIG. 7. Gravity then takes over to pivot the case about its lower edge so that it falls into the primary magazine 10 as indicated in FIG. 1.

Turning now to a more detailed description of the means for cyclically moving the pallet described above in timed relationship with the mechanism for withdrawing the lowermost case from the primary magazine 10, FIG. 2 shows a pneumatic actuator 40 having a piston rod connected to a crank arm 82 carried on a rockshaft 84 rotatably mounted in the table portion 22 of the secondary case magazine. As best shown in FIG. 3, the rockshaft 84 also carries a pair of arms 86, 86 each of which is connected through an intermediate link 88, 88 to the movable crossmember 66 comprising a part of the pallet described above. The crossmember 66 is slidably supported on vertically arranged guides 90, 90 provided for this purpose in the fixed frame of the secondary magazine. Slide blocks 92, 92 are carried by the crossmember 66 for so supporting this portion of the pallet. As indicated in FIG. 1, whenever the control unit 20 for the conventional mechanism for withdrawing cases from the primary magazine 10 actuates the cylinder 16, a corresponding pulse is directed to the actuator 40 for causing corresponding movement of the pallet so as to eject a case from the exit end of the secondary case magazine.

In a similar manner, the upper run of the belt conveyor 28 is adapted to move incrementally so as to feed all of the cases in the secondary magazine generally horizontally toward the right and toward the exit end of said magazine in response to a similar pulse directed to the actuator 38 described hereinabove. As indicated in FIG. 3 and as shown in detail in FIG. 2, the actuator 38 moves a crank arm 94 which in turn advances the clutch 36 through a predetermined angular displacement for causing movement of all the flatfolded cases in the secondary magazine through the thickness of one such case.

Iclaim:

l. A magazine construction for storing blanks comprising lower wall for supporting the blanks in edgewise relationship, means for urging all of said blanks toward an exit end of said magazine, a fixed stop at said exit end for normally retaining said blanks in compacted relationship, escapement means at said exit end including a reciprocable pallet having a lower portion for sequentially raising the endmost blank in its own plane above said fixed stop, said pallet including an upper portion for pushing the endmost blank downwardly in its own plane after having been so raised, a guide for engaging the lower edge of the blank to urge this lower edge outwardly as it is pushed downwardly so that the endmost blank clears said fixed stop.

2. A magazine construction as set forth in claim 1 and further characterized by a projecting shelf for engagement by the blank after the blank has been guided past said fixed stop, said shelf serving to pivot the blank about its lower edge as the blank drops downwardly under the influence of gravity. 

1. A magazine construction for storing blanks comprising lower wall for supporting the blanks in edgewise relationship, means for urging all of said blanks toward an exit end of said magazine, a fixed stop at said exit end for normally retaining said blanks in compacted relationship, escapement means at said exit end including a reciprocable pallet having a lower portion for sequentially raising the endmost blank in its own plane above said fixed stop, said pallet including an upper portion for pushing the endmost blank downwardly in its own plane after having been so raised, a guide for engaging the lower edge of the blank to urge this lower edge outwardly as it is pushed downwardly so that the endmost blank clears said fixed stop.
 2. A magazine construction as set forth in claim 1 and further characterized by a projecting shelf for engagement by the blank after the blank has been guided past said fixed stop, said shelf serving to pivot the blank about its lower edge as the blank drops downwardly under the influence of gravity.
 3. A magazine construction as set forth in claim 1, wherein said means for urging all of said edgewise blanks toward said exit end comprising an endless belt conveyor having an upper run for engaging the lower side edges of said blanks.
 4. A magazine construction as set forth in claim 3 and further characterized by drive means for said belt conveyor, said drive means being intermittently operable in timed relationship with reciprocable movement of said pallet to advance all of said blanks toward said exit end in timed relationship with release of said endmost blank. 